Tara Anne Pleat, Esq.

TARA ANNE PLEAT, is a co-owner and co-manager of the law firm of Jones Wilcenski & Pleat PLLC. She practices in the areas of:

- Trust and Estate Administration
- Special Needs Estate Planning
- Trust, Estate & Tax Planning for Residents of New York and Florida
and
- Long Term Care Planning and Elder Law

Tara holds the highest rating for both expertise and ethics awarded by Martindale Hubbell, the independent rating service of legal professionals. Tara is a cum laude graduate of Albany Law School, with honors in the Estate Planning concentration. She earned her undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Albany. During law school she worked full-time as a trusts and estates paralegal in an Albany law firm.

Tara is admitted to practice in New York, Florida, Massachusetts, the United States Tax Court and the United States Federal District Court in the Northern District of New York.

Tara is an active member of the Special Needs Planning Committee of the Elder Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and a Member of the Taxation Committee of the Trusts & Estates Section. In addition, Tara recently was admitted as a Member of the Special Needs Alliance, an invitation only, national network of leading disability attorneys who practice in the areas of Special Needs Trusts and public benefits.

Tara is a Trustee of the Newmeadow Saratoga School, a school established to operate a kindergarten and grade 1 elementary school for young children with disabilities. She is the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Estate Planning Council of Eastern New York and also sits on the Board of the Children’s Museum at Saratoga. She is also a graduate of the 2006 class of Leadership Saratoga, sponsored by the Saratoga Springs Chamber of Commerce.

Tara frequently speaks on Estate Planning and Administration, Special Needs Planning and related disability issues for state and local bar associations, community organizations and parent groups. She also speaks annually at Senior Citizens Law Day sponsored by Albany Law School. In the Fall of 2008 Tara completed an intensive special education advocacy program sponsored by Parent to Parent of New York State.

Tara lives in Clifton Park with her husband, Andy, and their two children.

Recent Presentations

- Drafting Supplemental Needs Trusts, New York State Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Program         for Attorneys, June 2010, Latham, New York

- Supplemental Needs Trusts, New York State Bar Association Elder Law Section Fall Meeting, October 2009,         Bolton Landing, New York

- Current Developments in Elder Law and Long Term Care Planning, New York State Association of Resident         Service Coordinators Statewide Training Conference, June 2008, Saratoga Springs, New York.

- Planning for Snowbirds - What New York Attorneys should know about Florida: Schenectady County Bar         Association Program for Attorneys, March 2008, Schenectady, New York

- Supplemental Needs Trusts - Taxation of Supplemental Needs Trusts: New York State Bar Association         Continuing Legal Education Program for Attorneys September 2007, Albany, New York.

Research & Publications

- A Summary of Medicaid Waiver Programs Available for Individuals with Special Needs and Their Families in         New York State, New York State Bar Association Elder Law Section, January 2010

- Special Needs Trusts and Retirement Benefits: Compromises and Opportunities When Disability and         Distributions Collide, Estate Planning Magazine, February 2009, co-authored with
        Edward V. Wilcenski, Esq.

- Snowbird News: Repeal of the Florida Intangible Tax, New York State Bar Association Trusts and Estates         Law Section Newsletter, Winter 2006

- Circular 230: What the Trusts and Estates Practitioner Should Know, New York State Bar Association Trusts         and Estates Law Section Newsletter, Fall 2005

- Tax and Estate Planning Opportunities under the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005 (Trusts and         Estates Section eNews, co-author)

- Taxation of Regular Corporations, appearing in New York State Bar Association’s “Taxation for the General         Practitioner”